On a day when warmth and sunshine were expected to arrive — theoretically, anyway — patio chairs
at Milestone 229 were washed but sat empty.

Gray skies and cool weather yesterday marked the first day of spring — a much-awaited occasion
in central Ohio given the unenviable winter just ended and the recent yo-yoing temperatures.

Forget about certainty. Or short sleeves.

"You can’t get used to anything. You want to get your spring cleaning done, but you’ve got
another round of snow and mud and muck,” said April Denton, a 42-year-old who, with Ryan Tipps, was
power-washing outdoor furniture at the Downtown restaurant in anticipation of eventual diners
(whenever Mother Nature cooperates).

“We’re all taking dibs on whether we’re going to get spring at all.”

Indeed, some outlooks were tempered yesterday.

Bob O’Hara, a public-safety employee at Ohio Dominican University, could only chuckle, he said,
when the woman serving him to-go coffee earlier in the morning wished him a “happy spring.”

Nonetheless, the Hilliard resident, dressed in layers, spent the afternoon scaling walls and
rope ladders on the obstacle course at Scioto Audubon Metro Park — a place he plans to visit more
often (with less clothing) when the mercury rises.

“I like to get tanned up,” said O’Hara, 58. “I can’t wait to get down here in a tank top and
soak up the sun.”

He and others were willing to think positively, as in
bright,
breezy and
balmy.

Someday.

Coolness aside, a bundled-up Ben Warner was pleased that conditions were still pleasant enough
for bird-watching at Hoover Reservoir — where, using a telescope, he spotted three red-necked
grebes, rare finds in Ohio.

“This winter was harsh,” said Warner, a 32-year-old rock-climbing instructor who lives in
Sunbury. “I did a lot of birding from the car.”

As a skier, Warner considers himself a winter person. This year, though, he’s over it.